Mitt Romney says he’s voting for Ted Cruz — but only ‘so that we can have an open convention’

Mitt Romney has announced that he is voting for Ted Cruz in this Tuesday’s Utah caucuses — but he’s not actually saying that he endorses Cruz to be the nominee. Instead, he is still speaking in terms of stopping Donald Trump, and of bringing about a contested Republican convention.

This week, in the Utah nominating caucus, I will vote for Senator Ted Cruz.

Today, there is a contest between Trumpism and Republicanism. Through the calculated statements of its leader, Trumpism has become associated with racism, misogyny, bigotry, xenophobia, vulgarity and, most recently, threats and violence. I am repulsed by each and every one of these.

The only path that remains to nominate a Republican rather than Mr. Trump is to have an open convention. At this stage, the only way we can reach an open convention is for Senator Cruz to be successful in as many of the remaining nominating elections as possible.

I like Governor John Kasich. I have campaigned with him. He has a solid record as governor. I would have voted for him in Ohio. But a vote for Governor Kasich in future contests makes it extremely likely that Trumpism would prevail.

I will vote for Senator Cruz and I encourage others to do so as well, so that we can have an open convention and nominate a Republican.

Ted Cruz tweeted his response to this rather begrudging pseudo-endorsement:

Two weeks ago, Romney called upon GOP voters across the country to pick the anti-Trump candidate most likely to win in each state, in a speech wherein the 2012 Republican nominee lambasted the current frontrunner for campaigning on bigotry and vulgarity — to which Trump responded by hearkening back to when Romney got his endorsement four years ago: “I could have said ‘Mitt, drop to your knees.’ He would have dropped to his knees.”

Afterwards, Trump beat Cruz and Kasich in Romney’s original home state of Michigan, and this week he crushed Rubio in the latter’s home state of Florida. John Kasich, with whom Romney did indeed campaign, won his own home state of Ohio — though from here out Romney is asking people not to vote for Kasich.

Trump appears to understand the political situation better than his opponents: An amorphous stop-Trump effort — to which Romney even still seems to be clinging, by not actually endorsing Cruz to be the nominee — faces a serious difficulty with voters. If they vote for Trump, and Trump wins, they’ll know that they’re getting Trump. But if they are asked to vote for someone else, simply to get someone else, then the voters are not being presented with any kind of clear outcome for them to select.